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Securities Law

About the National Numbering System

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) follows a system in which securities regulatory instruments are assigned numbers that indicate the type and subject matter of the instrument.

Under the numbering system, each instrument is assigned a five-digit number, with a hyphen appearing between the second and third digit. There are four components to the number assigned to a document:

  • The first digit represents the broad subject area.
  • The second digit represents a sub-category of the broad subject area.
  • The third digit represents the type of the document.
  • The last two digits represent the number of the document within its document type in its sub-category (in sequential order starting at 01).

The documents are divided into nine main subject areas, indicated by the first number. The nine subject areas are:

  1. Procedure & Related Matters
  2. Certain Capital Market Participants (Self-Regulatory Organizations, Exchanges and Market Operations)
  3. Registration Requirements & Related Matters (Dealers, Advisers and other Registrants)
  4. Distribution Requirements (Prospectus Requirements and Prospectus Exemptions)
  5. Ongoing Requirements for Issuers & Insiders (Continuous Disclosure)
  6. Takeover Bids & Special Transactions
  7. Securities Transactions Outside the Jurisdiction
  8. Investment Funds
  9. Derivatives

If you are looking for a document with a five-digit number that starts with 4 (e.g. NI 43-101), you will need to select 4 - Distribution Requirements. Similarly, if you are looking for a document starting with 8 (e.g. NI 81-101), you will need to select 8 - Investment Funds.

A Companion Policy or Form that is related to an Instrument or Local Rule will have the same number as the Instrument or Local Rule to which it relates, followed by “CP” in the case of a Companion Policy or “F” in the case of a Form. If there is more than one Form related to a particular instrument, the Forms will be numbered consecutively (F1, F2, F3, etc.).

Category, Sub-Category and Document Type Numbers

 

Category
(1st digit)

Sub-Category
(2nd digit)

Document Type
(3rd digit)

1 - Procedure and Related Matters

1 - General
2 - Applications
3 - Filings with Securities Regulatory Authority
4 - Definitions
5 - Hearings and Enforcement

1 - National or Multilateral Instrument (Rule) and any related Companion Policy and Form

2 - National or Multilateral Policy

2 - Certain Capital Market Participants

1 - Stock Exchanges
2 - Other Markets
3 - Trading Rules
4 - Clearing and Settlement
5 - Other Participants

3 - CSA (or Staff) Notice

4 - CSA Concept Proposal or Discussion Paper

3 - Registration and Related Matters

1 - Registration Requirements
2 - Registration Exemptions
3 - Ongoing Requirements Affecting Registrants
4 - Fitness for Registration
5 - Non-Resident Registrants

5 - Local Rule, Regulation or Blanket Order or Ruling and any related Companion Policy or Form

6 - Local Policy

7 - Local Notice

4 - Distribution Requirements

1 - Prospectus Contents - Non-Financial Matters
2 - Prospectus Contents - Financial Matters
3 - Prospectus Filing Matters
4 - Alternative Forms of Prospectus
5 - Prospectus Exempt Distributions
6 - Requirements Affecting Distributions by Certain Issuers
7 - Advertising and Marketing
8 - Distribution Restrictions

8 - Implementing Instrument (Local Rule that gives effect to a National or Multilateral Instrument)

9 - Miscellaneous item (e.g. a Form that does not relate to another Instrument or Policy)

5 - Ongoing Requirements for Issuers and Insiders

1 - Disclosure - General
2 - Financial Disclosure
3 - Timely Disclosure
4 - Proxy Solicitation
5 - Insider Reporting
6 - Restricted Shares
7 - Cease Trading Orders

8 - Corporate Governance

 

6 - Take-Over Bids and Special Transactions

1 - Special Transactions
2 - Take-over Bids

 

7 - Securities Transactions Outside the Jurisdictions

1 - International Issuers
2 - Distributions Outside the Jurisdiction

 

8 - Investment Funds

1 - Investment Fund Distributions

 

9 - Derivatives

1 - General

2 - Trading

3 - Registration and Regulation of OTC Derivatives Market Participants
4 - Clearing and Cleared Derivatives
5 - Uncleared Derivatives
6 - Data Reporting

 

See CSA Staff Notice 11-312 National Numbering System for additional information.